my heart sisters blog

Carolyn Thomas writes an award winning blogMy HEART SISTERS on women’s heart health. I “discovered” Heart Sisters when I was diagnosed with atrial fib and have reposted many of her informative posts.

At the height of her career Carolyn had a “widow-maker” heart attack, named FOR the fact that most having this type of cardiac incident die. To our benefit, Carolyn survived and is a patient advocate, speaking, writing and listening, to hundreds of women with their own stories on My HEART SISTERS.

Carolyn Thomas, a WELL DONE WOMAN** with a BIG HEART

Here’s Carolyn, in her own words (with a few edits, rearranges & colors by me, JW):

“. . . in May 2008, while working at the Victoria Hospice and Palliative Care Society, I became a member of an exclusive club that nobody ever wants to join: I was hospitalized for a myocardial infarction caused by a 95% blocked coronary artery – what doctors call the “widow-maker” heart attack.”

Until then Carolyn had been . . . “just your average active, outgoing PR person, a longtime Run Leader at the Y’s marathon clinic, involved in a number of community and professional organizations – all while juggling a fun and busy social life with close-knit family and friends.”

“But here’s the frightening part of this story: two weeks earlier, I had actually been sent home from the same hospital’s Emergency Department with a misdiagnosis of acid reflux, despite presenting with textbook Hollywood heart attack symptoms like chest pain, nausea, sweating, and pain radiating down my left arm. “You’re in the right demographic for acid reflux!” was the confident pronouncement of my E.D. physician.”

“I left hospital that day feeling supremely embarrassed and apologetic because I’d made a big fuss “over nothing!” I continued to suffer increasingly debilitating symptoms for two full weeks (but hey! at least I knew it wasn’t my heart!) until symptoms finally became so severely unbearable that I again sought medical help – this time to a revised diagnosis of “significant heart disease”.”

“I later learned (while attending the WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium at the world-famous Mayo Clinic) that, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, women my age and younger are seven times more likely to be misdiagnosed in mid-heart attack and sent home from Emergency compared to our male counterparts presenting with identical symptoms.“

I call my blogging “cardiac rehab for my brain”

“Since 1973 (when I was just a tiny baby), my work background has been in journalism, communications and public relations. I’m a refugee from the Niagara Falls area to the balmy west coast of Canada; I’m the author of two travel books and one book about living with heart disease; my little garden won a national garden contest from Gardening Life magazine; I once had lunch with His Royal Highness Prince Edward (yes, that Prince Edward); and many years ago while I was a student at Queen’s University, I accidentally smashed our old Buick into the station wagon owned by “The English Patient” author, Michael Ondaatje. And that’s just about as much fascinating trivia as the average person can possibly stand knowing about me.”

“I have two grown kidlets who, luckily for me, both live here in their hometown . . . and my first grandchild), the ever-so-sweet happy girl, Everly Rose, born in May 2015.”

Back in 1997, I made what the Victoria Times Colonist called at the time a “riches to rags” career move when I decided to abandon the expense account world of corporate public relations in order to do something socially meaningful for a change. Thus I was able to round out my three decades of PR experience in corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors – ranging from Mercedes-Benz to the Salvation Army.

My very first “Pinot & Prevention” audience in 2008

“I launched Heart Sisters blog in 2009, mostly just to help publicize my free “Pinot & Prevention”presentations on women’s heart health I started doing after returning from that Mayo training. It’s now grown like Topsy, with over 15 million views so far from 190 countries! “

“My writing’s also been published internationally, including in the British Medical Journal. And in 2014, the BMJ invited me to be a Patient Reviewer for cardiology papers submitted to the journal for publication, part of their innovative peer review process.”

*”Johns Hopkins University Press approached me in 2015 to ask if I’d ever considered writing a book based on my HeartSisters blog articles. Thus began a two-year adventure culminating in my book called “A Woman’s Guide to Living With Heart Disease” (ask for it at your local bookshop or order online and save 20% off the list price by using the discount code HTWN when you order!) “orOrder directly from my Canadian distributor, Brunswick Books.

WELL DONE Carolyn! WELL DONE

* * *

We hope you enjoy and perhaps are even inspired by the series to celebrate women who, in our estimation, are “well done”.

Heart disease, not cancer, is the #1 killer of women. I learned that and other invaluable information on Carolyn Thomas’ My Heart Sisters blog.

Over the years I’ve “stolen” and reposted many a wonderful post from Carolyn Thomas. Her blog, Heart Sisters, has been one of the few I’ve followed for years. I have forgotten what led me to her blog but once I read both her compelling stories and the up-to-date information on women’s health, in particular heart disease, I was a Carolyn-groupie.

Apparently Johns Hopkins was a groupie too when they asked her to write a book on Living with Heart Disease. My guess is that her down-to-earth writing coupled with up-to-date research and information appealed to Johns Hopkins as much as it did to me.

Here’s just a sample of info found on Carolyn’s blog:

“Did you know: Women generally fare far worse than men after experiencing a cardiac event? One possible reason is that it can be confusing to make sense of warning symptoms when they do hit. Women are also less likely than our male counterparts to seek immediate help at the first sign of cardiac symptoms. Instead, we end up:”

toughing them out

waiting to see if they go away

blaming them on stress, muscle soreness, indigestion or other less serious non-cardiac causes

I can’t say enough good things about Carolyn – you’ll have to read her book and her blog to see for yourself what fabulous advocacy and education Carolyn has provided since her own “widow-maker” heart attack. (Full disclosure: we are not related, I’ve never met her in person, and I don’t get a kick-back!)

Buy a copy and give the gift of life to a woman you love . . . maybe it’s even yourself

Save 20% when you use the code HTWN when you pre-order the book from Johns Hopkins

“[A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease] gives women the knowledge they need to become their own advocates in a health care system that continues to be weighted against them.”

— Foreword Reviews

“This book brings a needed focus to a leading killer of women today and is a must-read for women and their loved ones.”

— Library Journal

“If you are a woman, or love a woman, this is a book for you! Cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of women. Here is a book focused on women’s cardiovascular health. It is all here—prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Read it for the people you love.”

— Edward K. Kasper, MD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, coauthor of Living Well With Heart Failure: The Misnamed, Misunderstood Condition

“This work is an important contribution to the discussion about heart attack and misdiagnosis in women. Thomas’s personal story—alongside the stories of millions of other women—provides a needed reminder of recognizing one’s symptoms, avoiding denial, and seeking medical attention. This elegant book is a unique addition to women’s health books and a necessary read for women and the people who care about them.”

“When other researchers reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at more than 10,000 patients (48% women) who had gone to their hospital Emergency Departments with chest pain or other heart attack symptoms, they found that women under the age of 55 are SEVEN TIMES more likely to be misdiagnosed in mid-heart attack than their male counterparts are.”

“And it gets worse! In 2005, the American Heart Association surveyed physicians in the U.S. to see how many were aware that more women than men die of heart disease each year (a statistic that’s been true since they started keeping track in 1984).

Only 8% of family doctors knew this fact, and (much worse!!) only 17% of CARDIOLOGISTS were aware of it. CARDIOLOGISTS! This is their business. This is all they do!! Shocking, really!”

Do check out Carolyn’s blog. She does an amazing job keeping up with the latest news and research and information. Here’s a sample of a funny post that may not be so funny:

“The Australian study on prolonged sitting adjusted for other factors such as age, weight, physical activity and general health status, all of which can also affect longterm health risks. It found a clear dose-response effect: the more people sat, the higher their risk of premature death.

Healthy or sick, active or inactive, the more people sat, the more likely they were to die prematurely compared to those with non-sedentary lives.While the death risk was lower for anyone who exercised five hours a week or more, it still rose as these active people sat longer.

In other words, we still need to exercise, but it’s also important to spend less time sitting.

“Our findings suggested not only an association between sitting and all-cause mortality that was independent of physical activity but, because the findings persisted after adjustment and stratification for Body Mass Index, one that also appears to be independent of BMI.”

In another Australian study reported in the journal Diabetes Care, scientists at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne observed adults who sat for seven hours on some days and who rose every 20 minutes and walked leisurely on a treadmill for two minutes on other days. When the volunteers remained stationary for the full seven hours, their blood sugar spiked and insulin levels were erratic. But when they broke up the hours with movement, even that short two-minute stroll, their blood sugar levels remained stable. The scientists concluded that what was important was simply breaking up those long, interminable hours of sitting.”

I wonder if lying down with my feet pressed against the wall would work?

I had such an incredibly mahhhhvelous, exciting day yesterday. Unfortunately what “Turns me on . . . and off” isn’t the same mahvelous experience for Miss JudyJudith. Humans are rather delicate. Pity.

Well, back to me. I commemorated Go RED! for heart disease day with a visit to my personal cardiologist. For the better part of 2 1/2 hours I was administered to. Such a delight since most of the time I toil unrecognized and behind the scenes.

I was turned up. I was turned down, I was adjusted and tweaked. Truely a spa day to bring out my glow. I am as magnetic a personality as always.

And I was exonerated. You won’t believe how much I get unjustly blamed for. It’s undoubtedly because of my feminine beauty that the finger always gets pointed to me. Being a star it comes with the territory but it is tiring.

Seems as if JudyJudith’s V-nodes (too complicated for those of you not as close to the heart of things as I to comprehend) are competing and the beats aren’t beating and the circuits are heating. Blood pressure is elevating, Judy is deflating. Ah I wax poetic.

JudyJudith was told by the doctor to take it easy so I, ONCE AGAIN, am helping her out by writing all of you. I’ll see to it that she’ll be just just fine. Never as good as new, of course because she’s not new. So what’s new . . . ? She wants me to assure you that all is well.

Well, back to me. I’m doing mahhhhhhvelously well. And I want to remind you that heart disease is the number 1 killer of women. So please take heart, take care and review the symptoms of heart attack. We pacemakers prefer being in the bodies of humans who are alive.

I returned to the cardiologist and had them turn off my pacing assist to hopefully, once and for all, get Miss Judith to stop dramatically clutching her chest when she exerts herself in any mild to moderate way of which she holds the belief she’s being very subtle and heroic and doesn’t think I don’t notice all the while hoping I notice, while I pretend I don’t notice because I don’t want to reinforce her melodramatic proclivities.

Miss Judith probably doesn’t even know I had myself “adjusted” because all she’s been doing is sitting around.

Now, to much more important things that everyone should know and to that end I want you to watch this 3-minute FUNNY film called “Just a Little Heart Attack” with Elizabeth Banks from the American Heart Association about the symptoms of heart attack in young women. I found it funny but then again I don’t get out much,

.

The video and the excerpt that follows comes from an excellent and very informative blog Heart Sisters. Did I say this is an excerpt? You must read the entire post and then go on to read the entire blog as it is not just for heart disabilities but everyone with a life altering condition can benefit from the information so go read the blog NOW!

” I have to say that the breast cancer folks have done a fabulous job in raising awareness of their cause. So fabulous, in fact, that they have erroneously convinced women that breast cancer is our biggest health threat.”

It is not, of course. This year, heart disease will kill six times more women than breast cancer will. In fact, heart disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined.”

“. . . Young women can have heart disease, too. Yet when researchers reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at more than 10,000 patients (48% women) who had gone to their hospital Emergency Departments with chest pain or other heart attack symptoms, they found that women under the age of 55 are SEVEN TIMES more likely to be misdiagnosed in mid-heart attack than their male counterparts are. A commonly heard pronouncement delivered by too many Emergency physicians to too many female heart patients is:

Dedicated to Max, the most curious & loveable creature I’ve ever known

judyJudith

Peggy Arndt

MAXyourMIND Blog

CURIOUStotheMAX Zazzle Shop

Latest MAX your MIND blog post: MAXyourMIND

My brother Rick told me that he saw an alien standing in our bedroom doorway when he was about 4 and I was 9. I had just shared with him my abnormal fascination . . . and fear . . . of outer space aliens. I read many books about alien sightings and the […]